“What cost?” He senses there is more that he is not confiding.
Calder peers at his hands. “A little bit of me slips away each day. My abilities strengthen the more I give in to them,” he shakes his head. “The Queen,” he glances over his shoulder, “I cannot escape her. Fucking and drinking help stave off my impendingdemise.”
“Come home with us to Treland.”
He would do fucking anything for this kid who has been the perfect mentee for the last decade.
“I figuratively sold my soul to the country when I slit the previous Jarl’s throat. I’ll wear that damn circlet until I die or some bastard ends me.” He remains oddly stoic as he speaks. “I have a son. What kind of father would I be if I never returned for him?”
It’s hard to imagine Calder’s son was close in age to their youngest daughter, Aura.
Fuck, I never should have sent him here. I knew his father had escaped with him, and all I did was toss him back into the Abyss.
I also never thought he would stay.
Sigvid sits next to him on the wharf. “What about your wife?”
Calder waves his hand dismissively. “She is attached to my mother, ever plotting my demise. She was a handmaiden, trained to seduce and manipulate nobles. I recently caught her in bed with three men. I’m sure Lavinia used her against me as well.”
Sigvid can see the water below the dock freeze into a solid ice sheet.
“She frequently takes my son with her to Nightwall Keep. They are with the Queen now.”
Sigvid clutches his pipe tightly, trying to piece together the mystery of Skalor. Sadly, Calder’s words are more cryptic than anything.
And who was Grandpa ‘M’?
Footsteps clack along the pier, and Calder twitches as a tall, curvy woman strides forward with an arrogant smirk on her crimson lips. Her dark brown hair, streaked with white, flows long over her shoulders. An icy blue gaze drinks them in with haughty indifference.
“Well, well, Calder, were you planning to introduce me to our neighboring king? The infamous Beast of the Treland Arena.” She licks her lips, popping her hip to the side in an act he assumes she intends as seduction.
He stands, catching movement from his Drengr. They do notneed to run interference with this bitch. She deserves to drown in the Bay of Souls.
Sigvid stands before Calder can. “King Sigvid Thordsson.” He replies through his teeth clenched around his pipe and his hands resting beside his dual axes.
Amusement dances behind her eyes. She sweeps her hair over her shoulder and steps closer until she is just an arm’s length away from him.
“As Queen of Skalor, I am a tad shocked,” she steps around him to gaze out at the bay, “and even a little hurt that the great Sigvid would travel to my little old country and not even do me, the Queen, the courtesy to let me know of his presence.” She spins back around with a slight tilt of her neck as her gaze roves over Sigvid.
“I have no business with you.”
“Everyone has business with me, honey.” Her laugh disturbs him.
He blows a cloud of smoke in her face. “I am here visiting my old friend Jarl Calder. I do not need your fucking permission to do that.”
“Mother!” Calder scrambles to his feet, towering over both of them. “I suppose you wish to continue yesterday’s conversation.” Even as he speaks, Sigvid twitches as the air grows frigid.
Before she follows her son back to the longhouse, she pats Sigvid’s arm with a wink. “We will converse later, King Thordsson.”
Sigvid shivers as he watches them stride away. The last time he felt unnerved in the presence of another person was with his brother, Thrain, who condemned him to the Treland Arena, blackmailed Avina with the lives of those they love, and forced the war that led to the unification of Treland.
The King roughly brushes off the area she touched and stomps back to their lodgings, where he finds his little Queen engaged in a heated chess game with Bjorn. He embraces Avina, holding her close to inhale her soft, floral scent, which grounds him and quiets the burning anger.
Gods, I could never lose her.
Fuck, and he knows murdering another ruler in cold blood would not bode well for the safety of his little Queen or their family. And, ifhe’s being honest, he is fucking tired of wars and would much rather return to Blackwood without needing to summon his Drengr Army.
After his wife and son slumber peacefully in their beds, he seeks refuge on the pier with his pipe, waiting for the raucous in the longhouse to quiet down so he can find a way to free Calder from this Abyss.
